Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
by Chocolate369
Summary: This takes place at the beginning of The Ancient One, except Leo is stopped from hurting Splinter and isn't sent to Japan. Can his brothers convince him to let them help him? My first multi-chapter fic, so please be gentle. Reviews are welcome. Sequel is up!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own tmnt

This takes place at the beginning of the episode the Ancient One, except Leo is stopped before he can hurt Splinter. The beginning quotes come from that episode. The story's already written and only four chapters, so it shouldn't take long to complete. Here's chapter one.

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Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

"I already told you I'm fine!" Leo replied when Master Splinter asked him the question yet again during their sparring match.

"You are sure?" Splinter asked again.

"Nothing's the matter Sensei. Why do you keep asking me that?!" Leo answered angrily.

"So much anger. The unopened bottle will burst when its internal pressure becomes too much to bear. For months now you have been brooding, surly and stubborn!" Splinter admonished.

"Yeah, right." came a sarcastic remark.

"You have not been yourself!" Splinter replied as he blocked a strike. "You must release what festers within you! Your family will help you Leonardo!" he urged. "It is important that we be open with one another!"

Leo finally disarmed Master Splinter. But the rat's words had no effect on his son's increasingly obvious problems.

"Open? Okay, this katana lesson stinks! I mastered this years ago. Years ago!" he yelled.

His brothers still couldn't believe the tone Leo took now with their Sensei. A few months ago, it would've been unthinkable. It was still unthinkable. They all abandoned their own activities and came closer to watch, just in case things got out of hand—which was looking like a strong possibility at the moment.

Master Splinter only looked disapproving as he retrieved Leo's other blade and assumed a fighting stance yet again. "It is not the student's place to say when a lesson is learned." He said sternly. "The student's place is to listen and learn."

As the brothers watched, Mikey commented. "Something tells me the cork's about to pop on that unopened bottle."

Raph glared. "That hothead. I hate it when Leo reminds me of me."

As the sparring went on, Leo started to lose control. "I've already mastered this lesson! And yesterday's lesson," he continued as he rammed his shoulder into Splinter and followed up with a strike that Splinter was only just able to block. "And the lesson before that!" It was obvious Splinter was weakening but Leo didn't let up. "When are you going to teach me something," he yelled as he disarmed Splinter, "I don't already know!"

Before Leo could strike again and possibly injure Splinter, his brothers stepped up and Raph yelled. "Leo, what the shell is your problem!"

Leo whirled around to face Raph. "Problem? The only problem I have is that I'm not learning anything new! I'm stuck repeating old techniques I mastered when I was five!" With that, he picked up his other sword and started to leave the lair. "I'm going to go practice on my own!"

"Leonardo!" called Splinter in a warning voice. But Leo ignored him and disappeared, heading for the surface.

As soon as Leo left, Master Splinter's angry expression transformed into one of tired sadness.

"You okay, Sensei?" Mikey asked.

"Yes and no, my son. Your brother's behavior worries me more each day. I fear these dark feelings he is carrying will destroy him if we cannot persuade him to be open with us."

"Why the heck won't he talk to us?" asked Raph.

Splinter sighed. "Leonardo has never been one to share feelings or let others know when something is troubling him. He never wished to burden others with his troubles. Yet in this case, I fear for his safety. If he continues, he may be lost to us forever."

"He's obsessed with training, even for him. And he's not eating much, and probably doesn't get more than five hours sleep each night."

"How do you know that, Don?" Raph asked.

"Ever since I noticed how obsessed he was getting, I kind of started checking the security cameras. Just at mealtimes and a few times during the night. He's out till past midnight sometimes and he's always up before the sun rises. When he's at the table…well, you've all seen him."

"How long has this been going on?' asked Raph.

"A couple weeks, I think." Don's eyes widened. "Hey Raph, could you maybe go after Leo?"

"What for?"

"Eventually, these unhealthy habits will catch up with his body. Probably soon. "

"I'm on it." Raph replied as he raced in the direction his wayward older brother had taken.

"Is there anything we can do Sensei?" asked Mikey.

"I do not know my son. We can only hope a solution is found or that Leonardo will realize what he must do, before it is too late."

A few hours later

"Guys, help me out here!" came Raph's voice, sounding like it was coming from the front door.

As Donnie, Mikey, and Master Splinter approached, their hearts clenched. Raph was carrying Leo across his shoulders much like the way he'd carried Mikey when they'd been trapped in the Utrom's virtual history pod.

"Raph, what happened?" asked Donnie as they raced to the infirmary.

"I found him on a rooftop. He looked like he was hurt, but I couldn't see any bruises or cuts or anything." Raph answered as he thought back.

_Raph felt really annoyed as he raced through the sewers trying to track Leo. The idiot didn't even take his Shell Cell._

_ What was going on with him? It seemed like the guy had finally lost it. At first, Raph had kind of liked the fact that Leo was thinking like him. Then it had started to get scary and very annoying. Mikey and Donnie were both nervous around their brother now, which Raph was angry at Leo for. _

_The way Leo had fought Splinter earlier reminded Raph too much of the sparring match when he'd nearly bashed Mikey's head in with a pipe. That was why he'd stepped up and asked Leo what was going on. None of his brothers should know how it felt to hurt a family member because of losing control. He did; even though he'd never actually seriously hurt Mikey, the memory still haunted him._

Where is he? _Raph thought as he reached the surface and found no sign of his brother. A cursory check of nearby alleyways revealed nothing, not even some unfortunate criminal Leo might have happened upon._

_Maybe Leo was heading toward Casey's. He'd done it before, Raph remembered. Then he decided that wasn't too likely. Casey had finally caught on to the fact that Leo wasn't himself and tried talking to him about it. Leo wasn't going anywhere near Casey._

_As he raced across the rooftops, Raph tried to think of the places Leo might have gone when he caught sight a figure nearby on the top of a nearby skyscraper._

Got 'im,_ Raph thought as he changed direction. Just as he was preparing to hide so his brother wouldn't see him, Leo's figure collapsed._

_"Leo!" Raph yelled as he jumped onto the skyscraper. Reaching his brother, who was lying plastron down, he turned him over and checked him. There were no bruises, no cuts, no nothing. It was hard to tell in this light, but Leo's face looked paler than usual, though his breathing seemed normal. _

_No matter what Raph did, he couldn't rouse him. Giving up and hoping Donnie knew what to do, he replaced Leo's katana in their sheaths, hefted him onto his shoulders, and took off back to the lair._

"It took me about a half hour to get back here," Raph finished as Don checked Leo vitals and blood in the bed in the infirmary while Mikey and Master Splinter watched. "Will he be okay?"

Don sighed. "Yeah." Turning to Raph, he asked. "Remember why I asked you to keep an eye on him?" Raph nodded. "Well, I was right. All this intense training, with little food and sleep, caused his body to burn out on him. He'll need rest and vitamin supplements to recover from this."

"If we can make him stay," Raph replied sourly.

"No kidding," agreed Mikey.

A couple hours later,

Leo slowly regained consciousness. His head pounded and his body felt like it had gained a few extra pounds, he could hardly lift an arm. Looking around him, he realized he was in the infirmary at home. Had he been injured? He didn't remember getting hurt. The last thing he recalled was running across the rooftops when his body suddenly felt heavy. He remembered Raph's voice, but nothing else.

Don entered the room. "Donnie, what happened?"

The genius turtle started before his eyes flew to Leo. "Oh, you're awake!"

"What happened?"

"What you should know happens when you train too much and eat and sleep too little." Don said, narrowing his eyes. "Your body burned out. You're going to need a few days of bed rest and nutrients to fix this."

"Donnie, I don't need more than a few hours. I'm fine." Leo argued.

"I mean it Leo. I don't want you getting off that bed for at least three days, maybe more."

"Donnie," Leo looked ready to argue

"Leo," Don stared back, preparing himself for an intense battle of wills with his older brother.

Leo stared back, then laid back down. "Fine," he said.

Donnie couldn't believe it. He'd been prepared for a struggle with Leo, but the blue-masked turtle had actually decided to listen to him? Maybe the burnout had made Leo see he needed help, Donnie thought as he rejoined his father and other brothers.

"How is he, Donatello?" asked Master Splinter.

"Awake and resting. You guys won't believe this. I told him he had to take it easy, and he actually didn't argue with me. Much."

"What?" asked Raph, unable to believe his ears.

"Yeah, I know."

"We _are_ talking about Leo here, right?" Mikey asked.

"Surprisingly, yes. Maybe he's finally going to be smart about his health."

His brothers snorted. Donnie couldn't blame them. Even before he got all angry, Leo almost never listened and stayed in the infirmary bed when he was injured, unless Master Splinter outright told him to stay. Hopefully, this time Leo would listen.

"What does he need Donatello?" asked Master Splinter.

"Mainly rest, plenty of water, and enough healthy foods with vitamin supplements. That's the best treatment for him right now. Not much moving around either."

His family nodded. "We will do what we can to help, my son." assured Splinter.

Raph still looked suspicious about something.

Later that night,

"Ahhhh!" A scream echoed through the lair.

Everyone raced to the kitchen to find Mikey hiding behind the table.

"Mikey, calm down. What happened?" asked Don.

As soon as Mikey recognized his family and got his breath back, he started, "Okay, so I woke up and felt really, _really_ thirsty, so I came down here and got a drink of water. As I was heading back, I heard a loud crash."

"Coming from where?"

"Over there," Mikey replied, pointing toward a room with a closed door.

Raph sighed. "Oh boy,"

"What?" Mikey exclaimed indignantly.

"I think I know what happened," said Raph as he walked to the room, opened a door, and flicked the light on.

There lay Leo, sprawled on the floor, plastron down, a katana held in each hand. He might've been in the middle of a kata when he fell. His breathing sounded like it had just evened out.

"You're kidding, right," said Mikey, sounding really ticked off as Raph turned Leo over.

"When Fearless didn't argue with Donnie about staying put earlier, I had a feeling he'd try something like this," replied Raph as he put his arms under Leo's armpits. "Hey Mikey, help me get this idiot back to the infirmary."

Mikey grabbed Leo's legs and the two bore him back to the infirmary where Don was waiting. As the brainy turtle examined Leo's vitals yet again, the entire family watched and planned on discussing this little incident with Leo when he woke up.

At last, Don turned and sighed, holding his hands to his forehead. "Donatello?"

"He's fine, but his body's resting. I don't think he'll wake up till tomorrow morning."

Splinter nodded. "Then we shall discuss this in the morning."

Everyone went back to bed, both relieved and infuriated with the turtle that remained in the infirmary.

Next morning,

Leo woke up, feeling groggy. He remembered sneaking out of the infirmary to practice. He'd intended to show Don that he wasn't so weak that he needed a long recovery time. Besides, he needed to train. Funny thing, he couldn't remember leaving and returning to the infirmary last night.

"Look who woke up," an angry and familiar voice said. As Leo's vision cleared, his eyes fell on his family, all glaring at him.

"Guys, what's going on?" he asked.

Raph stepped closer with his arms folded. In a sarcastic tone, "Hey Leo, you'll never guess who we found passed out on the floor last night."

Leo's eyes widened. Now he remembered. When he tried to practice his katas, his body rebelled. He'd tried to stay up, but he'd lost consciousness before hitting the floor.

_Oh great,_ Leo thought. Now he was in for it.

"What part of 'I don't want you getting off that bed for at least three days, maybe more' did you not understand?" demanded Don as he stepped forward.

Leo didn't say anything. His brothers obviously didn't understand how important it was to train, no matter your condition, because your enemies didn't care if you were sick or not. They struck anyway. Why couldn't they understand that?

Leo's lack of response seemed to anger Don. "I can't believe you Leo. You know training when you're not fit only makes you worse. Your body can't take this pace! You're killing yourself!" He continued in this way for at least ten minutes and stopped to see what Leo had to say for himself.

Leo didn't respond.

That made Raph angry. "Leo, what's gotten in to you?! This is crazy!" When Leo didn't respond, he continued, "You've got a big problem here, bro, and ignoring it won't make it go away. Seriously, why are you doing all this?"

Still nothing.

Mikey gave it a shot. "Come on bro, you know you can tell us what's going on."

"Leonardo?" asked Splinter.

Leo still didn't respond. His brother's lack of seriousness after the last battle with Shredder left Leo convinced that they would never take their training or the danger they could face seriously. If they couldn't take those things seriously, he didn't have to explain himself.

With nothing but silence coming from Leo, his family gave up and retreated to finish their chores and pursue other activities while still thinking of ways to convince their troubled brother to talk to them.

Don stayed behind to keep an eye on Leo. With him there, Leo didn't dare try to escape the bed. When the others weren't around, he'd return to training. If they weren't going to be prepared, then he would be.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Don hardly ever left the lab, and when he did, it was only for a few seconds. It was finally ten at night when Don went to bed, and when he did, he brought a blanket and pillow into the lab and slept there. Leo waited to make sure Don was really asleep before venturing outside the infirmary.

For over an hour, Leo practiced his forms. _I told Donnie I was fine,_ he thought to himself triumphantly. He started increasing his speed and force of his blows. He'd just gotten through a sixth set when he felt the familiar feeling of his body tensing and shutting down. Realizing what was happening, he growled to himself. _I'm weak; why can't I do this? _was his last thought before blackness took him.

As expected, his family was ticked at him again the next morning. Both Donnie and Raph had yelled at him, but this time he talked back, only saying he was fine and that he wasn't a wimp.

That had actually driven them over the edge, and Mikey seemed perilously close to yelling himself. Splinter didn't yell, but the tone of his voice made it very clear how he felt.

Donnie had been the worst of them. "I swear Leo, if you sneak out and train one more time, I'll strap you to the bed!"

The others left, fuming. Leo didn't enjoy making them angry like this, but if they only understood and trained like he did, this problem wouldn't exist. He might even take it easier with training, if he knew his brothers could defend themselves and he didn't have to worry if he screwed up. They didn't though. So Leo trained. He couldn't let them down again.

In the middle of the afternoon, Raph left to hang out with Casey and Angel. Master Splinter took Mikey on a training session that would last the whole afternoon. Donnie fully intended to stay behind and keep an eye on Leo, but April called him and said there was something wrong with her computer that she couldn't fix, even though she'd been trying for four straight hours.

Donnie sighed. Glancing over at Leo, the leader seeming asleep after getting bored with just lying there, but not able to get up with his brother there, he decided he could leave for a half hour.

Later that evening,

Donnie knew he should've known better. Upon arriving home and finding Leo on the floor unconscious, again, he berated himself for not asking April to bring her computer to him.

The others assured him that it wasn't his fault—that it was Leo's—but it didn't make Don feel any better.

After putting Leo back in the infirmary bed, with Don's assurance that Leo wouldn't wake up till the next morning, the others gathered together. "This. Has Got. To end." said Raph, smacking his fist into his palm.

"I know Raph. Problem is, I don't think it will. Even if we make him stay in the bed until he's recovered, he'll just go right back to training. This whole pattern will just keep repeating." said Don, putting his face in his hands.

The others were quiet, trying to find a way to solve the problem.

Mikey's eyes widened. "Hey Don. Remember this morning when you told Leo that you'd strap him to the bed if he tried that again?"

"Yeah, why?" At Mikey's growing smile, he understood. "You're not saying—"

"Shell, I am. Might be the only way."

"I think Mikey's right," said Raph. "At the others' stares, he continued. "Leo won't stay down and recover; he's already proven that. This's the only way he'll stay."

"No, wait. Better idea," piped up Mikey. His brothers turned to face him again. "We strap Leo to the bed. But we don't let him up _at all_ until he tells us what's been going on with him." His brothers and father stared at him. "What?"

"I do not like this idea, Michelangelo. It seems tantamount to imprisonment. While I approve of using it to make sure Leonardo's body heals, I am loathe to leave him there longer."

"Sensei, it's like Don said. Even if Leo recovers from this, he'll go right back to doing the same things that caused this in the first place."

"Mikey's right," sighed Don. "Treating the effects of Leo's burnout won't work. We need to treat the causes too. You in Raph?" he asked, turning to the turtle in red.

Raph nodded. "I'm in."

All three turned to Master Splinter. The old rat sighed. As much as he disliked the idea, a part of him knew it was the only way visible at this point. He could only hope his sons knew what they were doing.

"Very well, my sons."

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So did you like it? This first chapter isn't my favorite part of the story. Hopefully the next part will be better. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's part two! Once again, I don't own tmnt!

One more thing-Thank you to all who reviewed the first chapter! I really hope this doesn't disappoint you guys!

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The next morning, Leo awoke much the same way he had the other mornings. He was frustrated that his body seemed so insistent on rebelling against him; even worse was the fact his body was winning.

A part of him was surprised his family wasn't in here yelling at him again. Maybe they finally realized it wasn't going to work. In fact, he didn't see anyone in here. Maybe he could practice a bit.

He tried getting up and found his body wouldn't move. This wasn't like before. He could usually raise himself up a little bit. He looked down and stared.

Black straps ran across his shoulders, midsection and elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles; exactly how Bishop had them tied down when the Triceratons had invaded the Earth.

_What the-_

Strapped down? When had this happened? It must have been while he was unconscious. Whoever did this was _so_ in for it; he was going to kill them! He struggled, but the straps held tight. He couldn't move an inch. How was he supposed to train now? Leo had rarely felt so furious. He was trapped, completely helpless, so-

Just then, Don entered with a smiling face. "Morning Leo. Hungry?" He held out a plate of scrambled eggs with some vitamins on top.

"Don, what is going on?!" Leo demanded. Had he been loose, the tone of his voice and his expression would've sent his brothers driving to the other side of the country at a hundred miles per hour.

Don's only response was to scoop up some eggs on a fork and hold them out. "Open wide Leo."

Now Leo was really ticked. "Don, you are not feeding me like this."

Don's smile didn't cease. "I beg to differ Leo."

"Don—"

"Leo, either you let me feed you, or I'll get Raph or Mikey in here to feed you instead. And if you're stubborn, I'll insert a tube in your mouth that will send mashed up food down to your stomach. Take your pick."

"Forget it! You better let me up or I'll-"

"You'll what? Glare me to death. And if you think yelling's going to work, I have some pretty good earplugs. So make your choice."

Leo was furious, but Don did have a point. Leo was pretty much helpless at the moment and at his brother's mercy. And Leo had no doubt Don was prepared to act on his threat. There was no way Donnie was putting a tube in his mouth, and there was _absolutely no way_ Leo would let Raph or Mikey feed like that. Hoping to buy time, he asked, "How much do I have to eat?"

"All of it."

Leo wanted to retort very badly, but after going over the options in his head again and conceding there was no way to escape the bed, he knew Don had him and decided playing along was his best bet at this point. Noticing his genius brother had moved the fork close to his mouth and was waiting patiently, Leo reluctantly opened his mouth and let Donnie spoon feed him—or in this case, fork feed him. Leo couldn't remember the last time he felt so humiliated. After he was loose, Donnie was _so_ in for it.

After the eggs were gone, Don took the plate and left, only to return a few minutes later with Raph and Mikey; Splinter was absent.

"Alright guys, what's going on?" Leo asked, giving them his best death glare.

"Well, since you refused to stay in bed, we figured we'd make you," said Raph.

"So in three or four days, I get off?" asked Leo. He remembered Donnie saying something about that length of time. He supposed he could last that long.

"That's entirely up to you actually," replied Don.

"Huh?"

"You see Leo," said Mikey, coming closer, "you aren't getting off that bed until you tell us what's been up with you lately."

_WHAT?!_

Leo's eyes were wider than they'd been in a long time. "You guys can't be serious." His brothers' expressions told him they were; Leo was furious. "Guys, I'm perfectly fine!" he yelled.

"Suuure you are. Now seriously, what's up?" asked Mikey.

"Nothing's going on! You guys let me up!" Leo retorted. "Now!" he added, when his brothers made no move to.

Leo glanced around the room, looking for something to help him escape, even though he knew it was a futile endeavor. His eyes fell on the spot where his katana used to lay.

"Where are my katana?" he asked dangerously

"Yeah, Leo, about that," Raph smiled without humor. "They're hidden somewhere. And you ain't getting 'em back until the three of us and Sensei decide you're ready to get 'em back. Now, you gonna talk to us or not?"

"Raph! You guys better return my katana right now, or—" Leo was so angry he couldn't form words. The next training session he ran, his brothers were going to drop dead in ten minutes with what he planned! And they'd go the whole day!

His brothers started leaving. "When you're ready to talk, give us a yell," said Don.

Raph simply couldn't resist. "We'll be close by. Don't go anywhere." He left.

Leo was so furious that he was at a loss for words. His brothers had _not _just strapped him down to a bed to make him talk to them. And Raph's comment…

Why didn't they already know what his problem was? If they thought about it, the answer should be obvious. And even if it wasn't, why didn't they ask sooner? Why now? He supposed several times they had been kind of busy, but they still had time to talk to him. Then again, his attitude hadn't exactly made them want to be around him—

Why was he thinking these things? He was perfectly fine! So he acted different than before. People changed their behaviors. He just couldn't believe they'd done this to him. He had to train so he could be prepared and maybe save their lives. And they were stopping him!

Leo spent the rest of the day fuming and refused to talk with anyone when they visited him. The only reason he was letting Donnie feed him was because of the threat of a tube or Mikey and Raph, whichever was worse.

Several days passed like this. His family was worried. Leo was angrier than ever and yet he still maintained that he was absolutely fine. Any attempt to talk to him ended in either silence or an argument. Splinter entering had been the worst. Before long, shouting was heard from Leo, and any attempt of Splinter's to reason with him drowned out. No further attempts had been made by Splinter to enter. His face upon exiting was angry, but it soon faded to one of sadness and pain.

The third day after Leo had been strapped down, the other three turtles decided to leave the lair for a while that evening and go on a drive, hoping they could think of a new solution. While driving, Mikey spotted a section of old houses near the shore of the river, obviously abandoned for some time, and wanted to explore. Weary, the other two agreed, but warned Mikey to be careful.

As Mikey vanished among the once beautiful homes, Don pondered the current situation and Raph punched a hole in one of the walls in frustration.

"What are we going to do, Don?"

Don shook his head and opened his mouth, but whatever he planned to say was cut off by a scream.

"Mikey!" They chorused as they raced toward the spot where Donnie guessed the scream had originated. But there was no sign of their goofball of a brother.

"Dudes!" Mikey's voice echoed as if it was coming from underground. Then his head popped up from an almost invisible hole. He was smiling. "You gotta see this!"

"Mikey! You nearly gave me and Don heart attacks here!" said Raph angrily.

"Whatever dude. Just get down here." At his brothers' expressions, Mikey assured them. "Relax, it's only a ten foot drop,"

The other two shrugged, and leaped down after him.

Mikey led them down a tunnel which sloped downward at a gentle angle and ended in an opening close to the shore of the river.

"Mikey, what are you…Whoa!" Don exclaimed. Raph also stopped short. Where the tunnel ended, there was small beach of sorts. The sun was setting over the river. It was one of the most beautiful spots they'd ever seen in New York.

"I'm impressed," said Raph.

"I know." The brothers sat together, just enjoying the view for a time, feeling peaceful for the first time in days.

"I wish we'd found this place sooner," said Donnie

"Yeah, one day we're gonna have to show Leo this," Mikey replied.

His brothers' peaceful expressions vanished. Mikey winced.

"Sorry,"

"What are we gonna do?" asked Don. Normally, Don was the one with the answers, but in this, he was as lost as his brothers.

"Don't know. It's not like we can just dive into his head and see what's going on in there," said Raph.

Donnie's face brightened. "Raph, you're a genius!"

"Huh?"

"When did he start acting like this?"

"After that last fight with the Shredder," Mikey replied.

"Right. Now, we need to look at the events the way Leo would. Did something happen to him?"

"We got our shells kicked by the Shredder," Raph said sourly.

"And he got stabbed by Karai with his own katana after he saved her, even though she'd helped us out in other messes…" Mikey trailed off, all three turtles suddenly getting a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

"And Leo tends to blame himself when things go wrong, especially when one of us gets hurt, and he usually takes it upon himself to protect us and train to be prepared. Put everything together…" Eyes went wide.

"Oh _shell_!" The three turtles chorused.

"We should have known something was up back at the farm when he just attacked Jhanna," said Don

"Forget that, we should've confronted him after he exploded about Karai!" Raph replied.

Mikey just shook his head. "We should've talked to him way sooner. He's been like this for months, and we offer to help _now_. He probably doesn't take us seriously since it took us this long to notice there _was_ a problem."

Silence reigned for a time.

"How can we convince him to talk to us? That he _can_ talk to us?" asked Mikey.

"Remember what Master Splinter said about the unopened bottle? And how Mikey said the bottle was close to bursting?" asked Don.

"Yeah," Mikey and Raph chorused.

Donnie's face was grim. "I think we might have to make the bottle burst." At his brothers' uneasy faces, he sighed. "I don't like it either, but it might be the only way. We have some idea about what brought this on, and I think it might be enough for a start." The other two nodded slowly. This wasn't something they wanted to do, but their options were running out.

Later that evening,

As Leo lay on the bed, still furious with his situation, he barely noticed when his younger brothers entered. "Hey Leo," Mikey greeted.

Leo glared at him. "What do you guys want?"

"You enjoying yourself?" asked Raph with a smug look on his face.

Leo's eyes flashed dangerously. "Raph, this isn't funny!"

"Who's laughing? You think we're enjoying resorting to this anymore than you?" Raph's smugness changed swiftly into anger. "Cause we ain't. Problem is, you're not leaving us any other option."

"You have options! Like letting me up and leaving me alone to train!" Leo retaliated.

"Train! Leo, you've doing nothing but train and fight these last few weeks! If you weren't strapped down, you'd be training right now. And it's killing you!" Donnie implored.

"I was perfectly fine. I'm still fine! And I don't see any of you making any effort."

"What are you talking about? We train every day, same as you. Just not as much." said Mikey.

"That's the problem. Maybe if you guys would take training seriously, I wouldn't be stuck with taking up your slack. Do you know what could happen if we aren't prepared at all times?"

"We are prepared. But this is insane! Training till you drop dead. Lot of good that'll do ya. And don't accuse us of slacking!" argued Raph.

"When that's all you guys seem to be doing recently." Leo was capable of nasty comebacks when he felt like it.

"Because we don't train to death? Right now, I think we're acting more like you than you've been recently. You've hardly been anything but angry for months. It's not you, and frankly, it's pretty stupid of you" said Don.

Leo's eyes flashed at his brother.

Don continued. "I mean, you've exploded several times the last few days and it hasn't changed your situation. It's not helping you, and it's kind of wasting your energy."

"Whatever, Don. You guys aren't exactly helping either." Leo retaliated.

"Alright, Leo," Mikey decided he'd had enough. Leo's anger had risen; they'd have to be careful. But it was time. They were pushing their brother's buttons, trying to guide him to a state where he'd actually _hear_ their words, realize he had a problem, and listen to and accept their help.

"You wanna train? Okay, we'll train right here. Objective; escape being bound to a table while ninja are approaching, intending to hurt and kill you. You have five minutes." Mikey pulled out his nunchuks. He and his brothers had no intention of actually hurting Leo, but needed to make the scenario as realistic as they could.

"What!"

"You're smart Leo. You'll figure something out." Don replied.

Leo's face was furious and he struggled, trying in vain to think up a solution. His brothers had deliberately given him a scenario where victory was impossible.

"Time's up. The ninjas came and killed you!" Mikey announced. He hated himself for what he was about to do. "Oh, and did I mention that we were imprisoned with you and they got us too!"

"What!"

"Wait, they just agreed to let us live if you said that you surrendered. After all, they're just defending their turf."

"Surrender! That's stupid!"

"They'll even release us!"

"Surrendering is not the warrior's way. It means failure."

"They're going for the head now." Don frowned. This seemed to be bringing back bad memories for Leo.

"I—surrender!"

"And they release us." Mikey concluded the scenario.

Leo's face betrayed fury and self-loathing. "Argh! I lost! I failed. Again!"

"You don't fail, you don't learn. Right?" asked Don.

Leo didn't answer. He was still too furious with himself.

"Hey, be glad that was just a set-up situation."

"Yeah, not like the Shredder's ship. You know, you're mad at yourself for being a failure, and I don't blame ya, with what happened back there." said Raph.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo demanded, his eyes flashing toward Raph with anger once again blazing within.

Raph hated himself for what he planned to do next. It was going to be painful for all of them. But since they had ignored Leo's pain until now, they were going to have to deal with it.

"I mean, the plan to stop the Shredder's ship from taking off failed. And don't get me started on the plan to stop the ship when it took off. That's not even funny."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Leo shouted.

"Don't we?" asked Raph.

"You failed Leo," said Don, "We were hurt."

"The Shredder was coming for us," added Raph.

"We were all counting on you," continued Mikey.

Leo closed his eyes, shaking his head, trying to drown out their voices.

"You couldn't think up a better plan or take down the Shredder," said Raph.

"Karai stabbed you because you were foolish enough to trust her," added Don.

"You couldn't get back up to help us," finished Mikey

Leo nearly lifted the entire bed off the floor. "I'm sorry!" he yelled, and the intensity of his voice stopped his brothers cold. "I did the best I could. I did the best I could!" He struggled even harder. "There wasn't. Anything more. I could've done!" he yelled.

Mikey took the opportunity. "Then why the heck are you doing this Leo? How does all this training and anger change anything? How does it help us and you?!" Leo's eyes widened. Mikey finished. "It doesn't. All it does is hurt you! And us!"

Leo's anger drained away. For a moment, the brothers believed they had succeeded.

Leo saw it as clearly as if he'd met some monster face to face. This training was only hurting him. He couldn't have done anymore. He didn't need to do this to himself. But then he realized the truth.

He was still a failure. His brothers needed someone better to lead them, who could find a better solution, who wouldn't be a complete idiot. He was unfit to lead his brothers, even more so now. And he definitely didn't deserve the help they were offering.

For a moment, Raph, Don, and Mikey hoped Leo had finally seen the light. But their hope was crushed when they saw the emotions that replaced the anger in their brother's eyes. Self-loathing and guilt welled deep and he closed his eyes, shutting them out, feeling unworthy to be around them after how he'd acted the last few weeks.

"Leo," Raph approached, then stopped as Leo turned his head away in a gesture that made it clear they'd get nothing more out of him.

The three turtles left, filled with a sense of failure. They'd hoped Leo would finally open up to them, but they might have just made things worse. As they made their way to the couch, Master Splinter joined them.

"My sons, I heard everything."

Their eyes went wide. "Sensei, we—" Raph attempted to explain, when their father held up his hand.

"I understand your intentions. You were trying to show him that his anger and training were pointless. That they would not solve his deeper issues and that he needed us for that." Splinter smiled sadly. "I am not angry my sons."

"His anger turned to self-loathing and guilt after that," Don explained sadly, "He still won't talk and we don't know what to do now. Nothing's fixed."

"One thing is." countered Splinter. At his sons' surprised faces, the rat elaborated. "I do not believe Leonardo will engage in such obsessive training for some time." He sighed. "At the very least, we do not have to worry about him killing himself while we search for an alternate solution."

"You got any ideas 'bout what to do next Sensei?" asked Raph.

"Not at this time. Except for one." He turned his gaze to his sons. "I believe we have accomplished all that we can hope to by strapping your brother to the bed in the infirmary. Release him and take him to his own room, let him rest."

The three turtles nodded and headed to the lab. Leo didn't acknowledge them with anything more than a glance. He raised his head a bit when Mikey and Raph undid the straps, but didn't say anything. When Don handed him a couple pills and a glass of water, he took them without a word.

"Go to bed." Don told him. Leo immediately trudged toward his room. He wasn't going to argue with his brothers anymore. He wasn't likely to be giving them orders anytime soon anyway, once Splinter determined who would be the new leader. Don followed him and stayed until he saw Leo sleeping soundly on his bed. Then he rejoined his other two brothers.

"Will he wake up?" asked Mikey.

"No, I gave him two sleeping pills. He shouldn't wake up till tomorrow." replied Don.

A long silence stretched.

"Now what?" asked Raph.

The other turtles just shook their heads.

Raph stood up and growled. "Argh! Why does he always have to blame himself and hide when something's bothering him? It just makes it harder to help him. It's not like he's responsible for all of us. He just thinks he is."

Don's eyes widened. "Raph, you might just have something there!"

"Huh?"

"Remember what Mikey said just before Usagi came. He said it couldn't be easy for Leo to be the responsible one, and that the three of us had it easy. Raph, you're free to not think, I'm free to dream, and Mikey's free to take it easy because Leo's busy being responsible enough for all of us."

"I'm not following."

"You always want to run into a fight Raph. When a situation comes up, who always stops you when you need to be stopped?"

"Leo."

"We all, including you, know from experience that rushing into a fight is rarely a good idea. Yet you always want to anyway. It's your nature. Even though you know it could kill you one day. Did it ever occur to you that you keep charging right in because you know Leo will have a plan to spring you if it gets too dangerous?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Raph's eyes widened. "Aw, shell."

"If Leo wasn't busy being responsible for us, I don't think Mikey would always be taking it easy. I wouldn't be dreaming of and inventing things as much. Raph would have to think occasionally. Leo makes sure everything runs pretty smooth around here. He's under a lot of pressure. When he thinks he failed, he's harder on himself." Don sighed. "Mikey was right. It can't be an easy job. He's the big brother and leader. He thinks he always has to look out for us. And he doesn't want to burden us with his problems, or feels he can't. He might even have it in his head that we can't handle his problems even though I'm pretty sure we can."

"In a nutshell, Leo's been so busy being responsible for us that he has the idea in his head that we can't handle dealing with what's bothering him, right?"

"Yeah," replied Don, "and that's probably part of the reason he never came to us. Usually it takes a lot to pry anything out of him. But that's not the entire problem."

"What else is there?" asked Raph in frustration.

"You know how Leo gets about failure, Raph."

Raph sighed. "Do I ever."

"I have a feeling that's been holding Leo back too."

"Maybe, but if it is, how do we break past it, brainiac?"

Don looked dead serious.

"If we want to get Leo to talk to us, we have to show him that we can handle the kind of issues he's dealing with. Leo's also probably argued with himself a lot about talking to us. Which means when we finally try to get him to talk, we're going to have to prove his arguments wrong. Show him they're not true."

"Leo's not a failure. The past is pretty much proof of that."

"So, we need to show Leo that he's not a failure, that he can trust us to handle his issues, and that he needs to talk to us."

"Right."

Mikey's eyes widened and he smiled. "That gives me an idea."

"And what is that my son?" asked Splinter.

"Leo's under a lot of pressure from being leader right? Well, let's give him some time off, like a vacation." At his brothers' skeptical faces, he added. "Plus, it'll show Leo that we can be responsible and handle things, which might convince him that he can talk to us."

No one said anything. "Here's what we do," Mikey persisted, "We do this for a week. And each day, a different person is in charge. That person will do the extra training and everything Leo normally does. It'll go Raph, Donnie, me, repeat, and…" he turned toward Master Splinter. "Sensei, would you mind taking the last day?" Their sensei nodded.

"What would Leo be doing?" asked Raph.

Mikey grinned. "For the entire week, instead of being the big brother, Leo's going to be the 'youngest' brother. Which means he hangs out with the two turtles that aren't in charge and takes it easy." His brothers still looked uncertain.

"I believe it is a good idea, my son." Splinter smiled.

"May as well give it a shot," Raph said.

Donnie nodded. "I'm in."

The brothers met eyes. They could only pray this would work.

"Operation: Help Leo is a go!" said Mikey.

* * *

So, how was part two? We're about halfway through now! Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Here's part three. Will Leo finally let his brothers help him? Read and find out.

Once again, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I hope none of you guys are disappointed with this part.

I don't own tmnt.

* * *

The next morning,

Leo woke up, at first wondering where he was, then remembered that his brothers had released him from the lab bed last night. While he enjoyed not being strapped down and unable to move, this day still felt no better than the others. His brothers had shown him the truth; all that training he put in was not helping. He would never be a good leader for his brothers again; he'd failed them on the ship. He never should have been made leader; perhaps he should never have been born. He was a failure, and he and his brothers knew it.

Which was why he was startled when Mikey greeted him at breakfast like nothing had happened. Donnie and Raph were also acting perfectly friendly, which Leo couldn't understand after what happened last night, after these last few months.

Practice was extremely awkward, which Leo had been expecting. He hardly looked at his brothers and couldn't bring himself to look at Master Splinter, feeling thoroughly shamed of his behavior the past few months. He was relieved when practice ended.

He got a surprise when his brothers stopped him from practicing afterward. "Leo, you're taking this week off. Raph's going to do the extra training and the 'being responsible' today." explained Mikey, "Donnie's gonna take care of everything tomorrow and me the next day. Then we're gonna repeat the pattern. In the meantime, you are taking it easy and having fun with us. Basically, this week, you're the youngest brother."

Leo couldn't believe what he'd heard. A week off. Did his brothers really think he needed that? The answer came to him an instant later. They wanted to find out who could be a better leader so they were each trying out for two days. He couldn't blame them.

Mikey, taking a guess at the direction his brother's thoughts were heading, hurriedly dragged him to the couch to play some video games. Leo didn't protest. He might as well get used to following his brothers' orders from now on.

Getting Leo to relax and have fun without incorporating some kind of ninja training proved to be tougher than his brothers imagined, especially now. Mikey, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't seem to get Leo interested in comic books. With video games, he was slightly more successful, but not at all to the point he had hoped for.

For Donnie, it was easy to get Leo focused on finding parts for building, but after that, it was hard to peak his interest. Leo didn't seem as interested as he used to be in offering his input on whatever Don was building.

In the end, it was Raph who was able to begin pulling his brother out of his depressed state. The third evening, when Mikey was training with Splinter, Raph had dragged Leo to a wrestling match.

Their seats weren't front row, but they were still close; the crowds as intense as they'd ever been, and it was a rare person who could keep silent. As Raph cheered for his favorites, Leo couldn't help but join in occasionally. Raph smiled. What Splinter once told him was true; he and Leo were more alike than either cared to admit.

It was even better on the ride home. They'd taken the Shell Cycle and Raph kept putting on sudden bursts of speed to startle Leo. He had the impression that Leo enjoyed the ride and could have sworn he heard his brother laugh at least once.

After that, Leo relaxed more around his brothers. When he played video games with Mikey, there was hint of a sly grin on his face. When questioned, he smiled and said it was nothing.

Unfortunately, by the sixth day of Leo's week off, Raph, Don, and Mikey still had not managed to get him to talk to them. The few smiles and laughs didn't fool them. When he thought they weren't looking, they noticed he would fade back into his depressing and guilt filled thoughts. Unless Leo allowed them to help him, the feelings he carried would continue to destroy him, in a different way than the anger and training. Normally, Leo would protest not being able to train and wouldn't simply follow his brothers' orders; that alone told them Leo wasn't as fine as he pretended to be.

They talked about it while Leo was picking up some supplies April gave them. She'd left them in an alley near a manhole where she knew the turtles would find them.

"Now what? He's finally relaxed a bit and I think he finally realizes we can be as responsible as him, but he still hasn't brought up what's bothering him." said Donnie.

"You heard Sensei, Don. It's not like Leo to just bring up problems. He'll always hide it unless someone pries it out of him." Raph sighed. "And now I think it's time to do that."

"And _how_ do you propose we do that?"

"I know!" piped up Mikey. "How about we take him to that place we found a week ago? He hasn't seen it yet; shell, we haven't even told him about it. He'll love it. We'll talk to him there."

Raph and Don's faces showed uncertainty. "Trust me bros. I've got a feeling this'll work." And he did; Mikey had a gut feeling they needed to do this.

"All right then," said Don. Raph nodded.

They informed Master Splinter that they were taking Leo somewhere that evening. Their sensei did not object, merely told them to be careful. As they were leaving, they heard an "Ah hem!" Splinter stared at them with an inscrutable expression before he turned away. "Good luck, my sons!" he said softly, but with great feeling. He knew exactly what they planned to attempt that evening, and prayed desperately it would work.

Don and Raph left to prep the battle shell, and Mikey waited for Leo. As soon as the turtle had returned and put down the supplies, Mikey dragged him into the elevator.

"Mikey, what's going on?" asked Leo as the turtle in orange pulled him into the elevator.

"You'll see bro. It's a surprise," he said with a sly grin on his face. At Leo expression, he assured him with "Don't worry Leo. It's not a prank. Just trust us."

Leo was still a little worried about Mikey's grin, but when he saw Don and Raph, he relaxed. The drive in the Battle Shell took him to part of town he'd never seen before. Once the truck stopped, he tried to take a look around, but Raph pulled a blindfold over his eyes.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Just trust us Leo," said Raph as he gripped one of Leo's elbows. "We've got something to show ya, and we kind of want it to be a surprise."

"Uhh, okay." Leo was uncertain about the whole situation, but he said nothing more as he allowed his brothers to guide him to wherever they were going. They walked a short distance and stopped.

"There's about a ten foot drop here Leo, so be careful." Don cautioned. From what Leo could feel, they were jumping into a hole.

It was easy for Leo to make it the bottom of the hole, where one his brothers pulled him out of the way so the other two could jump down. They led him down what sounded like a tunnel before he could feel light on him again.

"Have a seat Leo," said Mikey. Still wondering what the heck was going on, Leo complied. "Now prepare to be amazed!" Mikey's voice continued as the blindfold was pulled off.

It took a few moments for Leo's eyes to adjust to the light, but once they did, he was awestruck. "Whoa!" It was so beautiful and…peaceful. The sun setting over the water was one of the most spectacular sights he'd seen in New York. Looking around, he saw they were all sitting on a kind of beach and noticed the entrance to the tunnel they must have come through. His brothers were all sitting behind him, giving him an obstructed view of the sunset before him.

Donnie was smiling. "Like it?"

"How did you guys find this place?"

Raph answered. "We took a drive to clear our heads last week." Leo's heart clenched; he'd still been strapped to the lab table. "We found this abandoned lot of houses and Mikey went exploring. The bonehead fell down that hole, followed the tunnel, found this place, and got Donnie and me to come see. While you were picking up April's supplies, we realized you hadn't seen it yet and decided to show you. Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"Definitely." Now Leo understood why the others had blindfolded him. It was quite a sight and they'd wanted to surprise him. This definitely qualified as one of his more pleasant surprises.

"Real peaceful too, right?" Mikey asked. "Just the sort of place some people need."

For a while, the turtle brothers were silent, simply enjoying the serenity this new spot afforded them. But after a while, Raph spoke up. "Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"We owe you an apology."

"What?" Of all the things his brothers could have said, an apology was the last thing he expected.

"For what we said a week ago," replied Don. He would have said "ignoring you and your problems for so long," but decided it was better to wait on that and address the issues that would be stemming from the more recent confrontation.

Leo sighed. "It's fine, Don."

"No, it not. We didn't mean any of it. We were trying to get through to you and find out what was going on. But we hurt you."

"Yeah, well, truth hurts sometimes."

"What!" exclaimed Mikey, "Since when was any of that the truth?"

"For a while. You guys needed me, and I couldn't help you. I failed you guys on that ship. I'm not fit to be leader. Maybe it would have been better if it was only the three of you."

"Leo, that's about the furthest thing from the truth I've ever heard!"

"Donnie, it's true, whether or not we like it," replied Leo, turning away from them to face the sunset, effectively closing off the conversation.

Or so he thought. Raph, Don, and Mikey glanced at each other and nodded.

_Thwack!_

_Thwack!_

_Thwack!_

"Ow," Leo turned around to tell Raph that one slap upside the head was enough, only to realize that all three of his brothers had whacked him once, not just Raph. He stared at them.

Raph glared. "You know, I always slap Mikey for saying something stupid. And he's said plenty of stupid things. But you." Raph shook his head. "What you just said took the cake. Took it out into space, past our galaxy, out into the far reaches of the universe; that's how stupid it was!"

"I—"

"Seriously, Leo! I can't believe you would even _think_ that. That the three of us would be better off without you!" Don glared and held his head like he had a headache, at a loss for words.

"Because—" Leo gave up and started turning away again. They didn't understand. But the faintest hope had flickered in his eyes before he turned away, and his brothers didn't miss it.

They realized that Leo _wanted_ to talk to them. The problem was that he convinced himself he couldn't, that they'd be better off not hearing it. Helping that was the argument of his being a failure, that they'd be better off without him. They knew they had to convince him otherwise. Arguments had to back up what they said. Proof. Or else they'd never get through to him. No more letting him hide.

"Leo." Mikey's voice was uncommonly serious with a touch of anger. Leo turned to face him. His expression was uncharacteristically stern. "You turn your shell around right now and face us!" ordered Mikey, sounding almost exactly like Master Splinter's when they were kids and needed to listen. Mikey's voice and expression combined was so unexpected that before Leo knew it, he'd rotated himself around to face his brothers.

Raph and Mikey each grabbed one of Leo's wrists so he couldn't turn away from them again. Don whipped out his bow staff and placed it under Leo chin so he was forced to meet their eyes.

"Now listen, and listen good!" said Raph. "You need to stop thinking that we'd be better off without you, because without you, we'd probably be dead." At Leo's skeptical expression, Raph grew angrier. "Who was it that saved me from that albino croc years ago?"

"Who saved me from drowning when we were kids?" asked Donnie. "Who was the one who kept us out of trouble when we were younger?"

"Who trained me for my Battle Nexus rematch, which probably saved my shell from Kluh?" Mikey added.

"Who got up and pushed the display case between Splinter and Shredder at April's place, even though the Foot had already practically beaten him to death? And who saved Splinter when the Shredder kicked him out the window at Foot Headquarters?" Raph asked. As Leo tried to think of an argument, Raph finished, "You. You've saved our lives more times than we can count. We're alive today because of you."

Leo sighed. "Okay, maybe. But I'm still not a good leader. You guys need someone who didn't get his shell handed to him."

"Oh really," replied Don. "How many times have you led us to victory, Leo, compared to defeat? The time at April's shouldn't even count, since there really wasn't any plan." At Leo's expression, Don amended himself. "Because of overwhelming odds, ones even you couldn't beat."

"I shouldn't have gone on that run. And I should've thought of a better plan on the ship."

"There was no way you could've anticipated the Foot's ambush. We thought they were all in the sewers. And how could you have thought of a better plan? The odds were against us. How could you know about the Shredder's stronger suit? Or what Karai would do?"

Leo eyes widened. "Okay, maybe not the suit. But Karai—"

"You can't anticipate everyone's moves Leo."

"I should never have trusted her, believed that whatever honor she had would make her do the right thing."

To everyone's surprise, it was Raph who contradicted him. "Even when you'd seen her do it before?" At Leo's dumbfounded expression, Raph explained. "Remember the time on the Shredder's boat? The Shredder had sent her to kill me, you, and Sensei. You two fought. You lowered your swords, giving her a choice. In front of Hun, a few Foot ninja, and Shredder's elite guard, she couldn't bring herself to kill you." Leo stared. Raph knew he had Leo beat. The blue-clad turtle had no reason to call himself a failure for trusting Karai.

Leo was running out of excuses to call himself a failure. "I still got my shell handed to me. I still couldn't come up with a better plan."

"You got your shell handed to you. When you were completely outnumbered or outmatched," Mikey replied. "So what, you think you're supposed to be invincible or something?"

"Mikey, that's not possible."

"From what you're saying, it sounds like you think you should be. Doesn't it?"

"It also sounds like you think you should anticipate or know everything, which is also not possible, as you've told me yourself on more than one occasion when trying to make me take it easy." added Don.

Leo was in a state of complete disbelief. Every argument he had made against himself had been taken away completely. "But don't you guys think I'm unfit to be leader?"

"Where'd you get that idea?" asked Mikey.

"This whole week—"

"Leo, you bonehead! We gave you a week off to show you that we can be responsible and handle things to show you that you can trust and talk to us!" Raph exclaimed.

"What?"

"Leo, the last fight with the Shredder nearly killed all of us, but you still haven't healed. Not inside," said Don, "and we know that's what caused the whole training and attitude problem you've had. But you still haven't talked about it, and unless you do, none of this is going to go away."

Leo stared. Don sighed. "When we first strapped you to the bed, we told you that you weren't getting off unless you talked to us. At the end, we only said those things because we thought if we made you realize that this anger was only hurting you, you'd talk." The genius turtle shook his head. "It didn't work. We thought that maybe you didn't think we could handle your problems, that we couldn't help you. This whole week was set up to show you that we can. Everything these past two weeks has been focused on trying to help you."

Leo stared. "I—" he trailed off, looking uncertain.

"We can handle hearing your problems Leo. I handled meeting an evil version of Master Splinter, remember?" said Mikey.

"I handled a world where Shredder had taken over." Don added sadly.

Raph's grip tightened on Leo's wrist. "You know the issues I deal with Leo. You really think I can't handle yours?"

"The only thing we can say for ourselves about not talking to you sooner is that we're sorry, and we're idiots. You didn't let us down; _we _ let _you_ down." said Don.

"Come on, Leo. Give it a try, for us if not for you. Please." Mikey's voice was uncharacteristically soft.

Leo couldn't refuse. His brothers had effectively sunk every argument about his being a failure and not telling them with devastating force. There wasn't any other option. And truthfully, he desperately wanted to talk to someone.

He took a deep breathe. "I've been furious with myself ever since the last fight with the Shredder. If the Utroms hadn't arrived, we would all be dead—because of me. I know, that's not true, but it's still how I felt. I know I can't possibly predict everything, that I'm not all-knowing, but I still felt I should've been prepared.

"It wasn't so bad when we were watching the Shredder stand trial, or before that. It was on the way back to Earth, and on the way to the farmhouse, that I really had time to think about what had happened. I felt like such an idiot for trusting Karai. I thought she would eventually see how wrong her father was, that she'd finally take our side. Then I end up getting stabbed with my own blade. That's one of the worst experiences I've ever dealt with. Having my own weapon used to injure me. And the injuries you guys and Master Splinter were suffering from; it just killed me to see it." Leo's voice became thick

"When we still struggled and had a few close calls in our fights, I was terrified by the thought of it happening again! I—I—" Leo was finding it very difficult to continue, and his brothers swore they saw water coming to his eyes.

Though Leo had barely even begun to open up, they were finally seeing just how badly he'd been wounded inside by the events of the past few months. Don replaced his bow staff on his back and Mikey and Raph released Leo's wrists, only to grab his upper arms and pull him close, held by all three of his brothers in an embrace.

"You know we love you Leo." Mikey said.

That did it. Any battle Leo was having with himself vanished as he clung to his brothers and cried out months of pain.

Raph, Don, and Mikey smiled. Leo had finally begun to take the path to healing. He still had a long way to go, but they were confident that with their help, he would be fine.

* * *

So, how was it? I hope you liked it. It's not over yet; one more chapter to go. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the final part! There is something I want to say first. All of you who have read, favorited, and followed this story, I appreciate you guys so much. To those who reviewed, you guys have inspired and made me feel great about this story. I wrote this because I felt my other story _Enough is Enough_ was lacking. I wasn't entirely sure about it at some points. But your reviews assured me that I was doing a good job. I can't thank you enough, and I hope you guys enjoy this!

I don't own tmnt.

* * *

It took over an hour for Leo to calm down enough to let go and start regaining his composure. By then, the sun had set completely. Don raced ahead to start up the Battle Shell and Raph and Mikey walked back slowly with Leo.

"Guys—" Leo began, but Raph cut him off.

"Don't mention it." He said with a small smile.

Leo smiled back and nodded.

As they leapt out the hole, Mikey brought something else up. "You know, there's one more thing you need to do Leo."

"What's that?"

"Talk to Sensei."

Leo paled. "I—"

"Leo, Sensei's worried about you," said Raph. "The only reason he agreed to let us keep you tied down was because we were running out of options. Every time you and Sensei argued, after he or you left the room, he looked worried and upset. He's not mad at you, he's _worried_ about you. You two need to talk. We all know these issues you have aren't gonna go away after one talk, and Splinter's the best one to help you work through them, along with us." At Leo's worried expression, Raph assured him. "I know you're nervous about talking to him Leo. But I also know you ain't a coward."

Leo took a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess."

"Good," said Don, who had rejoined them. "Because I just called Master Splinter to let him know we were on our way back and to expect you in his room."

"Now?" Leo gasped. "It's kind of late Don. Shouldn't it wait till morning?"

"You're not getting out of it Leo. You know Master Splinter can stay up as late as we can, and this talk is long overdue."

Leo sighed, but he knew his brother was right. All the same, he was dreading arriving home. Despite his brother's assurances, Leo still didn't believe his father couldn't be angry with his behavior.

The ride home was silent. No one felt like talking; Leo least of all.

At home, it took all the courage he possessed to walk up to his father's door and knock.

"Enter," Master Splinter's voice sounded wide awake, despite the lateness of the hour.

Sliding open the door, Leo slowly walked and knelt in front of his sensei. He couldn't bring his eyes to meet Splinter's yet.

"Ah, Leonardo. Donatello informed me that you needed to speak with me." Splinter's outward appearance was calm, but on the inside, he was hopeful and nervous at the same time. His third youngest son had said little on the phone, but when he'd said that Leonardo needed to talk to him, hope filled his heart. Perhaps his brothers had finally been able to break through his walls.

Leo nodded.

For a while, the two sat in silence together. Splinter felt worry begin to well inside. "Leonardo?"

"I—I'm sorry, Sensei. I just—I just don't know where to begin."

"I see." He relaxed and paused, thinking. "Perhaps you could begin with your feelings and emotions when you awoke to find that your brothers had tied you to the bed in the infirmary."

Leo took a deep breath. "Well, my first feeling was disbelief. I knew Don had threatened me with it before, but I never thought he would actually follow through. I was pretty much helpless and I hated it. Then when they told me they weren't letting me up unless I talked, I was furious. If they wanted to know what was bothering me, why didn't they ask sooner? Why didn't they help sooner? That was about as far as I got before I started focusing on my anger at them alone. I didn't want to admit I had a problem, and I took it out on everyone who tried to talk to me after that. Including you, Sensei."

Leo went on to describe how useless and angry at himself he felt when Mikey's words penetrated his skull as he realized all this training was not necessarily going to help him save his brothers if they found themselves in another situation similar to the one on Shredder's ship. His feelings of inadequacy and failure were all confessed.

He described the past six days of not being the leader, of watching his brothers take responsibilities that used to be his, which he felt he was no longer capable or worthy of performing, of thoughts drifting back to the beginning of his pain, which made him 'realize' he'd failed his brothers constantly. He felt he should've known that after these last few months, since the fight with Shredder, that he was no longer worthy of leading his brothers.

Now that he'd started, Leo couldn't stop talking. Every incident after the battle with the Shredder, all his feelings, all the training, was explained. The increased training and intensity stemmed from a fear of not being able to protect his family. Anything that could possibly hurt them had to be stopped, questions asked later or never. His frustration with them had come from a belief that they didn't take the danger they could get into seriously. Splinter's not teaching him new techniques had infuriated him because he felt he needed to know as much as possible to protect his family and Splinter was stopping him.

By the end, everything, every emotion, feeling, and thought from the beginning on the way to the farmhouse to the talk Leo had with his brothers at that beach had been explained. When he finally finished, it was three in the morning. Leo was breathing rather hard; it had taken him five hours to talk everything out, and he was still reeling from reliving all those emotions and events.

Splinter was quiet for a time before he spoke. "Leonardo," His son didn't answer. Splinter leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his son in a strong embrace. "Thank you,"

"What?" Of all the responses Leo had been anticipating, a thank you and a hug had been the furthest things from his mind.

"I have been hoping that you would confide your troubles in either myself or your brothers for a long while. I am glad that you finally have. I have been worried about you for some time."

Leo sucked in a breath of air.

Splinter loosened his hold enough to lean back and finally meet his eldest son's eyes, but didn't let go. He smiled at Leo's disbelieving expression. "My son, your brothers spoke the truth when they told you of my worries. The only anger I hold is that you kept these burdens to yourself for so long. Now, I cannot tell you how relieved I am that you have finally begun to take the correct path to heal. Now your brothers and I can help you."

"Sensei, I—" Leo paused. "I didn't tell my brothers much before I broke down."

"That is perfectly alright. You began your path with them, and…" smiling, Splinter turned to look at the door. "You all may enter." The door opened, and three sheepish looking turtles entered.

"If I am not mistaken, your brothers have been outside the door since you entered, listening to every word."

Leo stared at them. Don smiled, looking embarrassed. "Yeah, we heard everything." Turning to Leo, he faced his brother with a stubborn expression. "Don't tell me that if one of us was in your place, you wouldn't have done the same thing."

Leo couldn't argue with that.

Mikey stepped closer. "Now everything makes a lot more sense." He frowned. "And it makes me wonder why we didn't talk to you for so long."

"Regardless, the first step has finally been taken. Now, we must rest." ordered Splinter, releasing his son from his strong hold.

"What time is it anyway?" Leo asked when he noticed the clock. "Oh, shell—"

"Leonardo, do not worry about the lateness of the hour. I and your brothers would stay awake the entire night if meant being able to help you, as you would for us. Besides, I am cancelling tomorrow morning's practice so we all can rest."

"But Sensei, we already missed the evening practice when we took that drive—"

"Leonardo, you have finally begun to heal and confide in us. That is well worth two missed practice sessions." As Leo opened his mouth to protest again, Splinter cut him off. "My son, you will not change my mind. And I believe you know I am right. Do you not?"

After a few seconds, Leo nodded.

"Then rest my sons. I do not want to see any of you out of bed before eight o' clock." Splinter ordered, looking sternly at Leo in particular. Leo nodded.

As the brothers headed off to bed, Don and Raph accompanied Leo into his room. "Guys, what…"

"When Mikey has a bad night, you, Raph, and I always stay in his room. When it's me, you Raph, and Mikey stay in mine. Shell, you, Mikey and I did that for Raph several times when we were little. Now you're the one who's had a tough night. Like it or not, Raph, and Mikey, and I are sleeping in here." Donnie tone left no room for argument.

With that, Mikey arrived with the spare blankets and pillows.

"Guys—"

"You're not going to change our minds Leo," said Mikey.

"Yeah, so if you want us to sleep, you get your own shell to bed." added Raph.

Mikey began spreading the blankets and pillows on the floor. Raph gently but firmly shoved Leo onto his bed and made him lay down while Donnie pulled the sheets and blankets up to the blue-clad turtle's chin. Mikey turned the lights off and they all lay down. Leo couldn't believe it.

He smiled to himself. Even though he'd never admit it to his brothers, he was kind of enjoying this. There had been times when he wanted an older brother he could go to for help. But maybe he didn't need an older brother. Maybe the younger ones were just as good.

With those thoughts, it didn't take long for Leo to drift off into slumber land.

The next morning,

Leo yawned. This had been the first real deep sleep he'd had in a long while.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." Mikey's voice broke through the haze over his eyes as he remembered the previous night. All three of his brothers were still on the floor, though wide awake.

"When did you guys get up?"

"Only about a minute before you," answered Don.

"What time is it?"

"About eight-thirty,"

Leo's eyes widened. "Shell!" Before he could move, Raph put a hand on his shell.

"Leo, relax! Master Splinter called off morning practice, remember?"

"Right,"

"Who wants breakfast?" asked Mikey.

During breakfast, Leo's eyes wandered to the candles and other supplies used for training. His brothers noticed.

"You do know we're not going to let you anywhere near that stuff today, right?" Mikey asked.

"Huh?"

"We told you, Leo, you're the youngest brother this week," Don elaborated, "and your week's not over till this evening. Until then, you're going to continue taking it easy with us."

"Then who's taking care of everything today?"

Mikey grinned. "When I came up with the plan, I asked Master Splinter if he'd mind taking the last day. He agreed."

"Wait Mikey, you came up with this plan?" When Donnie and Raph confirmed it, Leo's eyes fell on Mikey. "I'm impressed."

"As you should be. Now come on, bro. Let's play some videogames." He raced to the TV and set up the console.

Leo only smiled. Mikey noticed. "Hey, Leo, what were you grinning about the other day? It was like you were hiding something. What's up?" Leo said nothing, only grinned more.

"Aw, come on! You can tell us. Please!"

Leo considered. Turning to his other two brothers, he saw curiosity. Glancing at Splinter, he saw a grin.

_Aw, why not. They'll find out eventually. And this has the potential to be really funny._

"Turn on that videogame and I'll show you." He grinned, sitting next to Mikey, and grabbing the other controller.

Half an hour later,

Raph, Don, and Mikey's faces showed absolute disbelief. Master Splinter was chuckling quietly to himself. It was all Leo could do not to burst out laughing at his brothers' expressions.

Leo had beaten Mikey to the top level of the game, left him completely in the dust, and ended with a high score that tripled Mikey's best on that particular game. Eventually, Leo lost the battle and broke out in laughter.

"How the shell did you _do that_, Leo?" Mikey asked, his voice hoarse.

Leo had to struggle to regain his composure. "Well, before that last fight with Shredder, when I woke up, since I was always up earlier than you guys, I'd train _and_ sneak in videogames. I'd mute the volume and never save my high scores. I was pretty good at making sure you guys never found out."

"You?" replied Raph.

"Contrary to what you guys think, I _can_ have fun without ninja training."

"And you didn't say anything," said Don.

Leo raised his arms in mock offense. "I had an image of 'serious leader' to keep, Donnie. Master Splinter was the only one who knew. It was kind of a secret joke between us."

"Secret joke?" Mikey's expression showed nothing but confusion.

Leo's chuckled. "When Mikey goes around cheering about his new high score, he has no idea that his 'boring' older brother can and has kicked his shell secretly at night, and imagining the look on his face if he knew…" Leo smirked at the expression on Mikey's face.

Raph and Don, after getting over their initial shock, chuckled and Raph trapped Leo in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "I never knew Fearless here knew how to have fun."

"Neither did I," replied Don, joining in.

"Uh, Leo, how long did it usually take you to win games and score high?" asked Mikey.

Leo's grin widened. "Three or four days."

"What! How do you do it?"

Leo just continued smiling.

"Please, please, please! What's your secret? I'll put in extra practice sessions for a week if you tell me."

Leo raised an eye ridge. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, please!"

"Okay, you really wanna know my secret?" Mikey leaned forward. "I read the game manual."

Mikey blinked. "That's it?"

"You'd be surprised at what you can learn from those things. Anyway, we'll start the extra sessions tomorrow at two in the afternoon." Leo grinned as he rose and left, with Raph and Donnie still chuckling as they followed.

Mikey was left alone on the couch with a dumbfounded expression. His eyes fell on the manual. He was going to have to read that soon and get in some more practice on this game. Leo wasn't going to catch him by surprise again.

That evening,

The four brothers gathered for the evening practice with smiles on their faces. Leo was finally heading down the right path. He'd relaxed and laughed more than he had in a long time. The day had been as enjoyable a one as they'd ever spent together.

"Raphael," Splinter jerked his head toward the red clad turtle's room, breaking the turtles out of their thoughts. Don and Mikey's eyes widened, but they nodded in understanding as Raph raced to his room.

"What's going on?" asked Leo.

"You'll see," said Mikey.

"I seem to be hearing that phrase a lot lately."

Donnie chuckled.

Raph returned holding something behind his back.

"Remember Raph told you that you weren't getting your katana back until we thought you were ready?" asked Donnie.

Leo's eyes widened and he turned toward Raph just in time catch the swords on their usual strap.

"You are ready to carry them again, my son." Splinter smiled.

Leo smiled back as he slung them on. "Thanks." It felt good to feel his swords' weight on his back again. He'd missed it.

"Hey Leo," said Raph

"Yeah?"

"We all know that you tend to blame yourself when things go wrong and you'll probably think the same kind of thoughts you were thinking earlier. Like thinking we're better off without ya, right?"

Leo sighed, "I'm not proud of it, but yeah, I'll probably feel like that again sometime."

"I'm setting a limit on how long you're allowed to feel that way."

Leo looked curious. "How long?"

"However long it takes you to find one of us and talk about it so we can tell ya it ain't true." At his brother's raised eye ridges, he added, "I'm serious Leo. If I find out you've been keeping all those thoughts to yourself like ya did earlier, I'm gonna do a lot worse than hit ya upside the head!"

"And we'll gladly help him," added Don

"And that rule will apply to all of you, my sons." Splinter met each set of eyes with his steely gaze.

After evening practice, Splinter motioned for Leo to follow him. He had several ideas for exercises that would help Leo come to terms with some of his emotions. There was much work that needed to be done. But they would succeed; Splinter was sure of it.

Two months later,

Leo had finally healed from the wounds that had afflicted him for so many months. The wound on his shell would always remain, but his emotional pain had finally gone, and the anger that used to blaze in his eyes had changed to peace. The origins of his pain had been his problem with failure, Karai's betrayal , his tendency to blame himself when things went wrong, his protectiveness of his family, the fear of such a situation repeating itself, and the paralyzing fear of losing his family. These had been augmented by his tendency to hide his pain and allow it to fester within him.

It had taken his family several weeks to convince him that no one could expect to succeed every time. Karai had made her choice, not Leo. Leo was not to blame, not when he and the others had come up with the best plan they could before setting out, and given it their all. His family may yet again face such a situation, but anger, dangerous training, and unhealthy habits wouldn't help. He slowly learned to stop hiding his pain from his family and allow them to help him heal.

One day after practice,

"Hey guys."

"Yeah?"

Leo smiled. "Thanks."

"For what?" asked Don.

"For not giving up on me. For putting up with the attitude I had. And for strapping me to the bed in the infirmary. Everything. Even what you said just before you released me."

"Leo, why the shell would you _thank_ us for that?" asked Mikey, looking at Leo like he was crazy. "That was one of the worst things we ever had to do. We hurt you and us."

"Maybe. But it made me listen to you. It made me realize wrong things, yeah, but if you hadn't said any of that, I might have never listened to you guys. And it was only by listening that I was able to heal. What you did was harsh, but necessary." He smiled ruefully. "Because like it or not, I was being an idiot."

"Yeah, you were," Raph agreed. Then he grinned a bit. "But you were still our idiot, and we wanted to help ya. So don't mention it."

Leo smiled. "I know. But still, thanks."

His brothers smiled back. Splinter grinned, watching his sons from a distance, filled with a contentment and peace that had escaped him for a long time. Things had finally returned to normal, though perhaps they were all a little wiser than before.

* * *

And so ends my story. This is by far the longest fic I've ever written and it was a lot of work. I hope it was good and that I didn't disappoint all you guys! Please review!

A lot of inspiration for this fic came from reading other stories that tried to describe how Leo was feeling after Exodus. I already had the initial ideas, but reading those fics really helped me fine tune it. The video game idea was also inspired by a fic I found a couple years back.

I had a request to do a chapter where Karai attacks the lair, with Leo there. If I do, I would make it chapter five on this fic and it probably wouldn't be posted for a couple days. It would also be an experiment, since I've never written a battle scene before. Let me know what you guys think.


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